Head of Manufacturing at Bank of Ireland Conor Magee outlines how the sector fared in the first half of 2021.
Summary:
After a sluggish start in January and February on the back of the post-Christmas lockdown, and what was always going to be a sub optimal Brexit deal, the first half of 2021 was marked by a surge in manufacturing activity.
Order intake and output performance has soared driven by high demand as economies reopen and vaccine rollout gathers pace.
Strong Q1 results across major industrial players reflected this positive momentum with YOY results upward trending across key indicators.
The most recent CSO data from period Jan-April 2021 shows industrial output is up YOY by 25pc for modern industries and 12% up for traditional respectively.
Overall manufacturing turnover was up 20.2pc on prior year. The major inhibitor to this growth has been supply chain delays and disruption caused by a confluence of Covid-19, Brexit, container availability and transport interruptions.
2020 will be remembered as the year that truly exposed the fragility of Global supply chains; supply chain resilience became the new topic in boardrooms as the industry challenged the value of globalisation.
Ultimately at least in the short to medium term security of supply will trump lower cost global.
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